Childproof closure



July 9, 1968 GIBSON 3,391,813

CHILDPROOF CLOSURE Filed Feb. 1, 1967 m' M,M,;Mam MM,

ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,391,813 CHILDPROOF CLOSURE Royal H. Gibson, Rumson, N.J., assignor to Gibson Associates Incorporated, Cranford, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 1, 1967, Ser. No. 613,160 4 Claims. (Cl. 215-9) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A closure for a container having a pouring lip with a rib thereon and a screw thread on the neck of said container consisting of a downwardly extending ribbed wall so that the closure can be snapped on the container for sealing thereof. For removal of the tightly engaged snap-on closure, a coaxially positioned flange is provided and a deflectable element is provided to engage the screw thread whereupon rotation will cause the element to ride the screw threads applying upward force to the flange for closure removal.

This invention relates to an improved closure and, more particularly, relates to a closure which is difficult for a child to open, but which can be opened readily by an adult.

In recent years, increased attention has been paid to the formulation of a so-called child proof closure due to the increased number of accidents occurring when children imbibe medicines intended for adults. Various closures have been proposed for this purpose, but unfortunately, few of them satisfy the requirements.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved closure requiring coordinated movement for removal and, thus, easily removed by an adult but which closure is diflicult to remove in absence of a coordinated movement and, thus, difficult for a child to open.

In accordance with this object, there is provided, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a closure for a container having a radial lip at the closure mouth and a screw thread positioned on the neck of the container below the pouring lip. The closure is a snap-on closure which is provided with a ribbed wall engaging the pouring lip on the container in a very close fit so as to be too tight to be removed by even moderate hand applied forces. The closure preferably incorporates a seal for sealing of the contents of the container. Thus, attempted removal by a child is difiicult since he cannot overcome the snap-on engagement force and rotation of the closure will not remove it. The closure is, however provided with a circumferential flange extending downwardly from the top of the closure and past the snap-on engagement. A deflectable element is provided which can be deflected into engagement with the screw thread. With the element so deflected, rotation of the closure will cause the element to ride on the screw thread, exerting upward pressure on the downwardly extending flange, thereby to pry off the closure by easily applied and low rotational force.

An adult can remove the closure with no difliculty since he is capable of deflecting the thread engaging element simultaneously with rotation of the closure. However, a child has difliculty in performing both operations simultaneously.

Having briefly described this invention, it will be described in greater detail along with other objects and advantages thereof, in the following portions of the specification, which may be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a cross section view taken through a closure 'ice in accordance with the present invention in container;

FIG. 2 is a cross section view taken along lines 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross section view of another embodiment of a closure in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a cross section view taken along lines 4-4 of FIG. 3.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown a container 10 having an elongated neck 12 terminating in a pouring lip 14 having a radially extending rib 16 encircling the pouring lip. The neck of the container is provided with a screw thread 18 below the pouring lip.

The closure 20 comprises a top wall 22 having a centrally located downwardly extending seal 24 to close the container. A downwardly depending circumferentially positioned wall 26 is integrally molded with the closure and is provided with a radial rib 28 engaging rib 16 on the pouring lip to provide a snap-on closure. Snapon closures of this type are conventional. However, in the present closure, the engagement tolerances between ribs 16 and 28 are so proportioned as to make removal of the closure very diflicult under even moderately applied hand force.

Also, integrally molded with the closure is a coaxially positioned downwardly extending circumferential flange 30 having at one position thereof an integrally molded deflectable removing element 32. In the embodiment shown, the deflectable element is joined to the flange and integrally formed therewith with the position of deformation defined by the necked section 34.

Thus, when the closure is installed on the container, removal by a child is difiicult since rotation of the closure will not cause removal. The upward pressure required to overcome the snap-on closure is designed to resist the hand forces applicable by a child. For removal of the closure by an adult, the deflectable element 32 is moved inwardly as illustrated in dotted outline 32' to engage the thread 18 on the neck of the container. When the closure is now rotated, the deflectable element 32 rides on the screw thread and acts as a jack to exert an upward force on the flange 30 at the weakened section 34, thereby to pry off the closure with relatively little eifort.

Since an adult is capable of ferforming the simultaneous operation of deflecting element 32 and rotation of the cap, removal by an adult is quite easy. However, this coordinated effort is relatively diflicult for a young child who might be injured by ingesting the contents of the container and, thus, the closure may be described as child-proof.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, there is shown another embodiment of the present invention in which like parts have been identified by the same numerals. The closure is similar to that of the closure of FIG. 1 with the closure being provided with a downwardly extending circumferential flange 38. Extending outwardly from the top of the container on arm 40 is a downwardly depending member 42 terminating in a deflectable element 44 integrally formed therewith and having the position of deflection defined by the weakened section 46. For closure removal, the deflection element 44 is moved into engagement with the thread 18. Rotation will then ride the element up the screw threads and the element will exert a lifting force which is applied to the bottom of the downwardly extending flange 38 thereby to pry the closure oif the container.

In design the closure for specific applications, it will be noted that the closure pressure provided by the snapon can be arranged for any specific force level. The screw place on a threads would similarly be modified in both size and pitch so as to exert the desired removal force with a relatively small effort of closure rotation.

This invention may be variously modified and embodied within the scope of the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A closure for a container having a pouring lip with a radially extending rib on the outside of said lip and a screw thread on the neck of the container below said lip, said closure comprising a top wall, a downwardly extending circumferential wall having at the end thereof an inwardly extending radial rib adapted to engage the rib on the pouring lip of the container in a snap-on engagement, and having a circumferential flange extending downwardly outside the circumferential wall and being radially spaced from the circumferential wall in a horizontal plane passing through the circumferential wail, there being a radial gap between said flange and the circumferential wall, and a deflectable element normally parallel with the axis of said container neck and being deflcctable into contact with the screw thread on the outside of said container neck so that upon deflection of said element into engagement with said screw thread and rotation of said closure, said element will ride on the screw thread applying an upward force to the bottom of said circumferential flange to pry off the closure from said container.

2. A closure according to claim 1 in which said de- 4. flectable element is integrally formed with said flange and extends downwardly therefrom, the junction between said flange and said element being defined by a section of reduced cross sectional dimension to define the position of deflection.

3. A closure according to claim 1 which includes an arm extending radially from said top wall and having thereon a downwardly extending member substantially parallel to said flange, and in which said deflectable element is integrally molded with'said downwardly extending member and the area of deflection is defined by an intermediate section of reduced cross sectional dimension.

4. A closure according to claim 1 which includes a seal extending downwardly from the top wall at a position to enter said container in sealing engagement with the lip thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS DONALD F. NORTON, Primary Examiner.

McGinnis et al. 215 41 X i 

